Senatorial candidates to appear at UMass

Published on November 06, 2009

The University of Massachusetts will host a forum Sunday for the candidates seeking the late Edward M. Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat.

The two-hour event, which will be held in Bowker Auditorium in Stockbridge Hall beginning at 7:30 p.m., is sponsored by the League of Women Voters and public radio stations WFCR and WNNZ. It is free and open to the public. The auditorium has the capacity to accommodate 700 people.

Three Democrats have already agreed to appear at the forum: U.S. Rep. Michael E. Capuano, Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca, and Alan Khazei, a co-founder of City Year. Attorney General Martha Coakley, the other Democrat in the race, and Republican state Sen. Scott Brown and his challenger, Jack E. Robinson, will participate as well.

"The voters in the western part of the state should have a chance to get to know the candidates," said Shawna Reid, executive director of the League of Women's Voters, a group that encourages informed and active voting. Reid said the league, which has 54 chapters across the state - including one in Amherst - is planning other debates in the central and eastern parts of Massachusetts.

Moderating the debate will be Bob Paquette, host of Morning Edition on WFCR. Questions will be presubmitted by league members and Five College students. Half of the forum will be devoted to questions on domestic issues and half to questions on international issues.

Kennedy died in August after being diagnosed with brain cancer. He was the second-longest serving member of the Senate. Paul Kirk Jr., a former Democratic National Committee chairman, is now filling the seat on an interim basis until a new senator is sworn in following the Jan. 19 special election.

Among the topics Reid anticipates will be addressed at the Nov. 8 forum are health care, the war in Afghanistan, and bipartisanship.

"We're just hoping that we get all the candidates on the stage," Reid said.